Another Melbournian here, I've been playing since it appeared in the Play Store last week, reached level 11 today. I've been enjoying it more than I expected based on the early preview videos I'd seen. The energy system is annoying, though.

As someone who has never played Sims 3 or Sims 4 [have played Sims 2 and Sims FreePlay], are there some hints/tips to help me with this game?

The main thing to get used to is managing your sims' energy, which drains at a rate of 1 or 2 points per action (or more for "risky" actions) during work shifts or social events. You start with 15 energy points. So you can do a maximum of 15 approx 2sec actions before your energy is completely drained and you have to wait 3 min to get 1 energy back. You can use the toilet/shower/bed to get points back, but there's hours of wait times to use those.

Basically there's a bunch of waiting around to be able to even play. At least on Freeplay, even if a sim needs to do an obnoxiously long task, you usually have 30+ other sims to mess around with. On the positive side, your Sims will actually move around and interact on there own free will, and the animations are pretty fun to watch.

Anyway, here's the few tips I have after only a few days playing:

I'd recommend not using the premium currency, sim cash, to add extra energy (like I did!) because it turns out it's really hard to earn it.

One tip is that the energy for work and social events is separate from the energy for attending other simmers' parties. So you can actually peace out in the middle of a work shift (lol) when your energy runs out, go to a party, and by the time you return to work a lot of your energy will have returned.

It's worth completing the Daily To Do each day, you get a fair amount of xp and currency that way. You can also get cupcakes that replenish 15 energy.

You don't need to earn all 5 stars on a work or social event to complete it, but you'll earn more xp and currency with each star, and it will finish early once you reach five stars. If you start an event and do nothing at all, it will still complete when the time is up and it will still count toward daily tasks.

What's New in Version 2.8.1
Winter has arrived! Celebrate the holidays with a Parkside event to unlock special content. And now, your Sims will discover unique stories – from secret crushes to love at first sight – that lead to new types of relationships. Plus, enjoy new visual upgrades and other behind-the-Sims improvements. Thanks for playing!

This is a very different game than the soft launch over a year ago. I don’t even remember why I deleted that one almost immediately! I wasted all day playing this version. The events keep going now even if you run out of energy.